Lost Sheep
by PotoPerson
Summary: Woody is once more in the arms of a child. His friends are happy and safe and so is he. Even during these happy days, thought, his mind flits back to those who were lost along the way. One day when Woody is brought along on a walk with Bonnie and her mother and they stop at a yard sale. Woody finds that the lost, or at least one of them, is not as far from from him as he thought.


Bonnie's mother told her she could only take one toy with her when they went on their daily walk in the neighborhood. This was, of course, a terribly difficult decision for someone with a treasure trove of toys like she had, but after a few minutes of agonizing thought, she decided on her new favorite: Sheriff Woody.

She sat him on her shoulders as she bounced along beside her mother down the street.

"Mommy, Woody saved the world from the evil Dr. Porkchop," she informed her mother proudly.

Her mother chuckled indulgently, "Did he?"

Bonnie bobbed her head excitedly, "Yeah. He's a hero!"

On her shoulders, Woody's painted smile grew just a little wider. Who'd a thunk it? He was a hero again. If the old toys of Andy's room could see him now…

He had always wondered where life had taken so many of his old friends. Etch... wheezy.. A frown disturbed his jolly face. Bo Peep...

"Mommy, look: a garage sale!" Bonnie was pointing at a house which had a driveway lined with tables. Boxes overflowing with discarded odds and ends were piled upon them. "Can we look, mommy? Pleeeeease?" Bonnie begged.

Her mother considered. "Well... all right. And since you were so patient at day care yesterday, you can pick out one thing. Something _small, _ok?

Bonnie was beside herself in delight. She jumped up and down, hugged her mother's leg, and then bounded into the labyrinth of cardboard and knick-knacks. She glanced up at Woody with a grin.

"C'mon, Woody. Maybe we can find you a wife." She looked around to make sure no one was listening before she added in a confidential whisper, "I think that Jessie and Buzz Lightyear secretly got married because whenever I find them they're always _right next __to each other_. Don't tell anyone, ok Woody? It's a secret."

She turned to look at the boxes, giving Woody and opportunity to contain his laughter. "If _that's _what you want to call it," he thought, snickering. Buzz around Jessie was the most ridiculous yet adorable thing known to toykind. He was almost as ridiculous as... well... as he was when Bo Peep first came to Molly's room.

He shook his head, trying to make the wistful, melancholy feelings leave him. Bo Peep's gone, Woody. Gone to a sweet little girl at a garage sale after Molly outgrew her and Andy became too old to justify borrowing her for his own games. She was fine wherever she was. He was fine where he was. Everything was perfectly fine. He just needed to move on. Quit thinking about her all the time. You'd think after all these years he could let it go.

Woody supposed that was just the thing about being plastic. The paint faded, the shine dulled, but the memories stayed alive and fresh as the day they were first forged. And he could still remember every day, every sun filled golden day, in Andy's room. And he would always, _always, _remember Bo Peep.

He suddenly became aware of a small, sad, voice calling his name. "Woody? Woody, is that you?" He snapped out of his revere and glanced about, perplexed. He shouldn't know any toys from this side of the neighborhood…

"Woody… Woody, I'm down here!"

He glanced down. On the ground beneath one of the tables there was a box marked "Toys 1$". After a moment he saw a pair of porcelain white hand appear on the edge and a little face appear as well. Painted blue eyes stared up at him with a surprised hope. Though Woody could see her he could hardly make himself believe. It was impossible, truly impossible. But there she was.

_Bo…_

Suddenly Bonnie bounded off in another direction and Woody toppled from her shoulders. Bonnie didn't notice as she continued toward whatever new thing had captured her young attention.

Woody did a quick sweep with his eyes to ensure no one was looking before booking it toward the toy box and hoisting himself inside. Bo Peep's dress was a little more wrinkled than he remembered, and there was something almost frightened about her that he wasn't used to seeing in the at times feisty shepherdess. But that was the same Bo Peep, kneeling in the toy box alone. He was struck first with shock at the neglected state she was in, but more so he was struck with the force of how much he had missed her. All those years of pushing thoughts of her aside so he could keep up an optimistic face for the others.

Her face rose in elation when he landed beside her. "Oh, Woody! It _is _you!" She hugged him tightly, an embrace he gladly accepted. (gently, she was fragile in more ways than one in that moment)

"Bo, what happened? What are you doing in a garage sale? I thought you found a little girl to take you home," Woody asked.

"She did bring me home. She came and she introduced me to all her toys like she was really going to play with me and then she put me on a shelf and didn't pick me up again."

"Why didn't you ask any of the other toys to help you?

Bo stared at the ground, her voice trembled, "I tried to yell for help, but no one answered… at first I thought I was so high up they couldn't hear me, but then I realized they _could_ hear me. They were just ignoring me. Being put on a shelf… in that room it was like you didn't exist. Toys that got put on the shelf were as good as thrown away. They wouldn't even look at me."

She sniffled and Woody pulled her closer. He had thought he had had it bad sitting and longing for Andy to play with him. But Bo had been alone. All these years no one to talk to, and then end it all with being tossed into a 1$ bin at some garage sale. (1$. Really? Bo was _not _worth 1$...) It's no wonder she was looking so frazzled. He would be too after what she'd been through. It made his heart ache just to think about it and increased his resolve not to let it continue for one more day.

"I'll get you out of here, Bo. I promise," he said.

Bo lifted her head. The sorrow didn't altogether leave her eyes but a cautious hope seemed to kindle with his certainty. "But how, Woody? I don't have anywhere to go, and even if I did I'm made of porcelain. There's no way I could go near anywhere as far as you can."

He frowned. That _would _be a problem…

Bo Peep smiled sadly, "Just go back out to your owner, Woody. That girl, right? I'm just happy I got to see you again."

He was about to protest when a thought struck him. Around the same time he heard Bonnie's voice say, "Mommy, mommy, I can't find Woody!"

_Bonnie…_

He turned to Bo Peep, gripping her shoulders gently. "Bo, how would you like a home where you're played with every day? All your friends are there are and… and we can be together again just like before."

Bo seemed thunderstruck, as though she'd stopped hoping such things were still possible. Then a smile graced her lips, a smile that told him that she was every bit the Bo Peep he remembered. "I'd like that more than anything in the world."

He grinned, taking her by the hand and helping her over the edge of the box.

"Then follow my lead."

Bonnie rushed back and forth among the tables, searching frantically. Woody was just on her shoulder a second ago. Where could he have gone? She rounded a corner and rushed toward where she thought she saw him last. She scanned the aisle hopelessly, already thinking him lost. What would she tell Andy the next time he visited?

Her thoughts of Andy's disappointed face disappeared as she spotted Woody on the ground nearby, his brave smile as bright as she remembered. With a glad cry she rushed forward, ready to scoop him into her arms. As she reached him though she stopped, gazing at him in wonder. Woody wasn't alone. Beside him was a lovely little doll with a white and pink polka dot dress and matching bonnet. What was most fascinating though was that it looked like Woody was holding her hand.

She lifted them both up in her arms inquiring, "Who's your friend, Woody?" But as she glanced between them the answer became clear to her, an answer that made a smile bloom on her face.

At that moment her mother approached. "You found Woody," she said, smiling.

Bonnie hopped up and down, displaying the doll proudly. "Mommy! I want this one!" she said, "Woody found her."

She looked skeptically at the porcelain doll with the wrinkled old dress that seemed to have a coating of dust clinging to it. "Are you sure you don't want a newer doll?"

Bonnie shook her head, "Nu-uh. Woody picked her for his wife. _See? _They belong together!"

Her mother just laughed and said all right, where do we pay? Bonnie cheered as her mother fished in her purse for a one dollar which she paid to the lady in the garage. As they made their way toward home, Bonnie babbled to her new doll, "And when you get home I'll introduce you to all my other toys and then…" her eyes lit up, "And then the evil Dr. Porkchop can fall madly in love with you and steal you away to his dark castle! And then Woody and the gang will have to come save you! But there'll be a troll and a haunted forest and Totoro the garden gnome..."

She began bounding toward home, already anticipating another adventure as her mother laughed and told her to wait for her. Bo glanced at Woody out of the corner of her eye. He caught her eye and gave a wink. Things were going to be all right now. For the first time in years she believed it. Even if this room wasn't as great as Andy's room (which she doubted, looking at the eagerness in the girl's eyes) she wasn't alone anymore. She had Woody again and that made the world feel right.

Like Bonnie had said, they belonged together.


End file.
